A funny thing happened when Titanic was released in 1997.
Everyone knew the ship was doomed, but went to see the movie anyway. The same
could be said for any spaceship involved in the Alien franchise, yet we keep on
marching to the theater to see which idiot is going to stick his head over one
of those eggs with the face-sucking spider inside, ready to impregnate them
with a little monster in their abdomen. So, here comes Alien: Covenant,
the second film in Ridley Scott’s new trilogy (following 2012’s Prometheus).
It’s actually Scott’s third film in the series, since he helmed the original
Alien film in 1979, consequently leaving the franchise in the hands of
folks like James Cameron (1986’s Aliens), David Fincher (1992’s Alien
3) and Joss Whedon (writer for 1997’s Alien: Resurrection), with
varying levels of success. Does Alien: Covenant have enough surprises in
store to keep the franchise going?

The story picks up 10 years after the events of Prometheus,
with the voyage of the spaceship Covenant, transporting a cargo of thousands of
settlers in hibernation, along with a small crew. The ship’s mission is to
inhabit a new-found planet (because Earth is SO awful a few hundred years from
now) and populate it as a new human colony. During the trip, the ship
encounters a radiation storm that wakes up the crew, with the assistance of the
android Walter (Michael Fassbender, who also plays Android David from
Prometheus). During the “wake-up,” some crew members are killed (including
their commander Jake Branson, played by James Franco). While fixing their
disabled ship, the crew picks up a rogue signal from a nearby planet, and the
new commander-by-default Oram (Billy Crudup) makes the executive decision to
explore and perhaps settle that planet instead of the intended destination.
Oram’s decision is challenged by Jake’s widow “Dany” (Katherine Waterston), the
crew’s biologist. A crew (with militarized security) uses a landing craft to
explore the origin of the rogue signal, as the Covenant maintains orbit. The
landing crew soon encounters Android David, the only survivor from Prometheus,
which crash landed on the planet after the debacle from 10 years prior. The
crew learns that the only human survivor, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Repace) did
not live much longer after escaping the events in the previous film and that
David has been conducting experiments on the planets “engineer” population, using
the alien genome he found 10 years ago. Most of the Covenant landing crew is
infected by the alien DNA or killed by the alien monsters that reproduce from
their coupling. The landing craft is also destroyed, prompting the remaining Covenant
crew to mount a rescue. The rescue craft is piloted by Tennessee (Danny
McBride), who must hurry to save what remains of the landing party, including Dany,
Walter, and Sgt. Lope (Demián Bichir). After an intense battle with an alien,
the survivors reach the Covenant and soon discover that they are not alone.
Dany and Tennessee must use their wits and intellect to rid themselves of the
monster. For a brief moment, it seems they succeed, but can you be sure?

Alien: Covenant has everything you’d expect from the
Alien franchise, including suspense, drama, action and incredible monster
special effects. Then again, these familiar elements might seem a little too familiar.
In simpler terms, you’ve seen all of it before, including a strong female lead
(Ripley/Dany), a duplicitous android (David/Ash), a military attachment (Lope/Apone)
and a hidden scheme to experiment with the alien. Taking things further, Alien:
Covenant comes across as a mash-up of the Ridley Scott versions (Alien,
Prometheus) and James Cameron’s Aliens.

Waterston has enough clout to carry the leading role, while
Fassbender does a great job playing two versions of the same android, complete
with different accents. The rest of the complimentary cast is adequate, and
perhaps only interesting enough to be alien fodder, with the exception of
McBride as the lovable folksy character deserving of survival.

Being formulaic can be good if the formula works, and bad if
it seems a little overused. Alien: Covenant falls somewhere in between,
so it’s worth checking out, even if you already know one those face-hugging
spiders is going to spring out of a gooey egg.

Alien: Covenant earns its R rating, with plenty of
gore, violence and a little sex (involving an alien encounter, of course) so
please leave the kids at home.